A Hybrid Parallel Genetic Algorithm for Reliability Optimization

Reliability engineering is known to have been first applied to communication and transportation systems in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Reliability is the probability that an item will perform a required function without failure under stated conditions for a stated period of time. Therefore a system with high reliability can be likened to a system which has a superior quality. Reliability is one of the most important design factors in the successful and effective operation of complex technological systems. As explained by Tzafestas (1980), one of the essential steps in the design of multiple component systems is the problem of using the available resources in the most effective way so as to maximize the system reliability, or so as to minimize the consumption of resources while achieving specific reliability goals. The improvement of system reliability can be accomplished using the following methods: reduction of the system complexity, the allocation highly reliable components, and the allocation of component redundancy alone or combined with high component reliability, and the practice of a planned maintenance and repair schedule. This study deals with reliability optimization that maximizes the system reliability subject to resource constraints.